Cinema Tropical's "Janeiro in New York / Music + Film Series " was created in 2008 in collaboration with 92YTribeca. This popular series has built a cult following among those who love Brazilian music and culture. Over the years the series has highlighted and featured the classic artists and musical styles of Samba, Tropicália, MPB, Forró and Bossa Nova as well as contemporary genres like Baile Funk. Whether you already are a fan of Brazilian music or want to know more, this series is for you.

The Spring 2013 edition opens on March 22nd with As Canções / Songs, directed by the Brazilian documentary master Eduardo Coutinho. Songs focuses on the song itself and explores the personal relationship of eighteen Brazilians with their music.

"The celebrated composer and musician Jards Macalé is in the recording studio where director Eryk Rocha captures him in a wide variety of poses and states of creating, imaginatively varying style and shooting formats. Fashioning an intimately attuned portrait of an artist, Rocha uses his camera as an instrument to riff with Jards in a poetic exchange between images and music. The repetitive, time-stopping process of rehearsal and the flow of energy between the two art forms create an elegiac vision of the creativity of some of Brazil’'s most beloved singers and musicians." - New Directors/New Films

"While the world was astir with Easy Rider's motorcycles, the frenetic beat of Elvis Presley, the beatnik poets and the explosion of the counterculture, a boy form Bahia gave birth to Brazilian rock. Raul Seixas built a one-of-a-kind career and today is the artist with the most posthumous albums sold in Brazil. Through rare archival footage and meetings with family members, artists and producers, the film shows the trajectory of one of the greatest legends in Brazilian rock, who continues to mobilize fans even today, 22 years after his death." - Rio Film Festival

Friday, March 22, 7pmSONGS | AS CANÇÕESDirected by Eduardo Coutinho | Brazil, 2011, 92 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles

"Comprised of 18 'sessions' (chosen from 42 total), this astonishingly simple, emotionally compelling documentary delves into the songs that hold meaning in people's lives. Director Coutinho reverses the traditional documentary practice of bringing the camera to the subject and instead invites the subjects to come to the camera. Sitting before a simple screen, the director engages his subjects in conversation about the song they picked, developing a rapport that allows for exceptionally involving, deeply personal stories about music and its intimate connection to memory, love, loss, self-discovery, regret, death, and life." - The Museum of Modern Art

Cinema Tropical's programs are made possible with the support of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support ofGovernor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. They are also supported, in part, by public funds from theNew York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the National Endowments for the Arts